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Registration for the conference will close on Sunday 25 May 2025.

The Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) 15th Anniversary Conference will be held in-person in 2025 from Monday 2 June to Wednesday 4 June at Senate House, University of London. The RLI Conference offers a dedicated annual forum internationally to share and debate the latest research and cutting-edge developments in refugee protection.

Thematic Papers and Panels 

This year’s dedicated conference theme – ‘Refugee Law and Forced Migration Studies’ – revisits these fields, their debates and the connections between them.

The RLI was created in 2010 to promote research and collaboration on international refugee law. Since then, the refugee law field has expanded exponentially. But this field sits alongside, or within, a well-established field of forced migration studies with its own momentum and dynamics. Despite historical tensions between these fields, researchers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines have regularly sought innovative ways to develop and bridge them.

The conference seeks to reignite this debate, highlighting new and important directions in these fields, unpacking opportunities for mutual learning and reflecting on the remaining tensions. Possible topics for proposals for ‘thematic’ papers and panels could include:

  • What is the rationale, focus and scope of “refugee law” and “forced migration studies” as fields? What are their limits? Where and how do the two fields connect with one another? Are there tensions between them still? Should they be resolved and, if so, how?
  • How has “forced migration studies” developed over the last 15 years? Has it appropriately addressed concerns such as knowledge production and contemporary understandings of human mobility? Is there still a place for “refugee studies”?
  • Is “refugee law” really a distinct regime of law? How does it relate to other regimes in national or international law? Are there current major fault lines in its interpretation or application? Where does its future lie?
  • What are the merits of other ways of conceptualising these fields (e.g. “displacement” studies or “international protection” law)? How do they link to established disciplines (law, IR etc.) and to other multi/inter-disciplinary fields (urban studies etc.)?
  • What are the major contributions of each research field to theory and practice? What can each field learn from the other? Where are the major gaps or blind spots? Have they created real theory? What should be their direction of travel in the next 15 years?
  • What factors shape the development of each field? How are the fields constituted sociologically and institutionally? How have professional academics, practitioners, displacement-affected populations and others engaged with these fields?

After the conference, a selection of papers presented will be published in the Refugee Survey Quarterly journal, as a Special Issue of short pieces (c. 5,000 words) dedicated to this theme.


Registration

  • All attendees, including presenters, will need to register for this in-person conference. 
  • Conference registration for one day only is not available. 
  • Registration opens on Monday 4 November 2024 and closes on Sunday 25 May 2024
  • Early bird tickets are non-refundable.

Tickets

  • Early Bird - booking completed before or on 1 March 2025: Standard - £175; Student, unemployed etc. - £145; RLI Affiliates (RAs, SRAs, MA Refugee Protection students) - £120
  • Non-Early Bird - booking completed after 1 March 2025: Standard - £215; Student, unemployed etc. - £185; RLI Affiliates (RAs, SRAs, MA Refugee Protection students) - £155

If you have any questions relating to payment for the conference, please contact the SAS Events Office: sas.events@sas.ac.uk.

Participants are responsible for making their own visa, travel and accommodation arrangements, which are not included in the registration fee. Details, of accommodation close to the conference venue, can be viewed on the SAS website.

When making travel arrangements conference attendees should note that RLI working groups may plan to hold meetings on 5 June after the conference proceedings. 

A limited number of places are available so please book early to avoid disappointment. 

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